On 5 April, Portugal joined the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees, becoming the 14th partner country to promote the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees as a practical tool for better and faster integration of refugees in their new societies.

EQPR is a tool that was developed in 2017, to help Member States address the challenges brought by the refugee crisis, by building capacity for a sustainable response to possible crisis situations in the future. Indeed, the EQPR project has been able to quickly adapt to recent crises (COVID-19, the situation with the refugees from Afghanistan in 2021 and current influx of refugees from Ukraine).

The EQPR helps refugees to rebuild their lives in their host countries by giving them the opportunity to have their qualifications assessed even in cases with insufficient or lacking documentation. In this way, the EQPR supports the implementation of the Article VII of the Council of Europe/UNESCO Lisbon Recognition Convention facilitating the recognition of refugees’ qualifications even in the absence of full documentation. The EQPR is also part of the Council of Europe Action Plan on Protecting Vulnerable Persons in the Context of Migration and Asylum in Europe (2021-2025).

Partners include the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, the Conference of University Rectors of Italy, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, UNHCR and national recognition centres in Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Serbia and the UK.

For more information, please visit the website www.coe.int/eqpr or send an email to: [email protected]